A substantial number of industrial production facilities utilize production stages or regions, the operation of which is monitored by safety systems. Such supervisory or safety systems have been mandated over the past by industrial insurance entities, government regulating agencies, and the like, and typically are configured as a network of process monitors and associated electromagnetically driven relay contacts. Generally, these systems require a sequence of proven steps or activities to occur during a process start-up, and during a production or run mode, will shut down the process where a monitored parameter falls beyond safety limits. Very often, such shut downs are quite costly, particularly under circumstances wherein the shut-down slows or terminates the operation of the entire or substantial portion of a production line. Failure of start-up because of safety system lock-out typically has the same unfortunate consequences, line personnel remaining idle while the failure of the system is analyzed and then correction is made.
Because of the potential costs of such safety system lock-outs, substantial or large industrial plants may employ fulltime, in-plant analysts or experts for the purpose of more quickly resolving safety lock-out problems and assuring substantially uninterrupted performance of a production line. Large industrial entities typically are capable of cost justifying elaborate, hard wired status monitoring systems and associated software to aid in achieving continuous production performance. However, small to medium size production entities, representing the greater number of industrial plants utilizing such systems, must rely on the abilities of talented production or line technicians or outside consulting firms to solve their safety system lock-out problems. Often, the number of variables involved in trouble shooting a safety system becomes overwhelming to the technician. Generally, where the line technician is unable to start or restart a safety monitor process, then the consultant is retained with attendant production loss during travel time, system familiarization activities, and the like. In the latter regard, generally, very few of the systems are identically configured, thus time is expended in a review of the system design at hand.
A common industrial production stage incorporating such safety lockout feature employs combustion systems. These systems utilize gas or oil fired installations found, for example, in industrial finishing production lines with washing and drying stages. Other heating systems will be found, for example, in larger ceramic production facilities. Starting up such combustion systems under safety system monitoring typically will require a sequential closure of series connected relay contacts as well as parallel coupled lock-out contacts associated with the operation of blowers, the proving of pilot flames, and the like. Following start-up, in the course of production, essentially any of the relay driven contacts may drop out in consequence of an out of specification monitored parameter to shut down the process. Upon the occurrence of such circumstances, it thus becomes imperative to know which of the contacts has dropped out and why it happened. The requisite analysis often is elusive and beyond the immediate problem solving capabilities of the line technician. Thus, down time often is incurred by the more common smaller sized industrial concerns with an attendant unfortunate financial impact.